"I miss you," Alex texted Maggie. There was no reply. There hadn't been any replies for a couple of hours now. It wasn't particularly worrisome, though. Maggie had told her repeatedly that from December 24th to January 1st, there were tons of family gatherings in the Sawyer family, with cousins and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews invading her parents' home in Nebraska. She knew Maggie would text her back as she could, but she also knew she was swamped with family stuff. She understood.
While she and Kara had been in Midvale for Christmas, they'd come back a couple of days later. Supergirl couldn't be gone from National City for too long, after all. Alex was happy to get back home. Her childhood bedroom always seemed just a shade too small when she'd visit.
Still, here it was, New Year's Eve, and Alex was alone. Maybe she should have stayed in Midvale and rung in the new year with her mother.
Or, she could have spent it with Kara, James, Winn and Mon-El. They were all at the bar and Kara had extended about seventeen separate invitations to join them. Even J'onn was there, although she didn't expect that he'd be hanging out with her sister and her friends. She'd given it some serious consideration, but had ultimately decided not to go.
No, she was comfortable here in her apartment, in her pajamas, a fire roaring in the fireplace, the TV tuned to Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, even though, she had discovered with horror, it was now hosted by Ryan Seacrest. The ball was due to drop in 12 minutes, at which point Alex was going to text happy new year to Kara and her mother and then to Maggie, although Maggie was a full time zone behind her. After that, she'd go to bed.
Boring? Maybe. But she'd spent her fair share of New Year's Eves out there, partying like she felt she was supposed to be doing. Her last days of the year were typically either spent working or drinking and dancing, and Alex felt like doing precisely none of those things.
She gazed into the flames in the fireplace.
She was pouting and she knew it. It wasn't fair. She finally, finally had someone with whom she wanted to ring in the new year and she was hundreds of miles away. Alex knew that it was unreasonable to expect to be part of Maggie's holiday plans. They'd just started dating at Thanksgiving, after all. She hadn't expected to be invited to Nebraska. She didn't think Maggie had expected to be invited to Midvale. No, it was too early in their relationship to make holiday plans together. It was too new to expect the other to deal with family madness.
Still, Alex, throughout her entire life, had never kissed anyone at midnight on New Year's Eve and she was kind of upset that she was going to have to wait at least another year for that to happen. If she was even dating anyone on December 31, 2017. She rolled her eyes at herself. She and Maggie had decided to take things slowly, one step at a time, to help prevent Alex's penchant for overthinking things. Thinking about whether or not they'd be together 365 days from now was definitely overthinking. Alex shook her head and stood up, heading for the kitchen. She'd make herself a small cup of green tea and watch the ball drop, wish the various people in her life a happy 2017 and then go to bed.
The water had just boiled in the electric kettle when there was a soft knock at the door. Alex frowned, her DEO training kicking in. Not a single person she really cared about could possibly be at her door at 11:57pm. She tiptoed into the living room and grabbed her gun, getting a strange sense of deja vu before she peered through the peephole. She nearly dropped her gun when she saw the familiar smile on the other side of the door. She put down the weapon and flung open the door, to see Maggie Sawyer, suitcase in hand, standing there.
"Hey, Danvers," she smiled.
Alex was speechless.
"You gonna invite me in?" the detective asked.
"What... what are you doing here?" Alex asked, moving out of the way, letting Maggie in, then shutting the door behind her.
"Good to see you too," she grinned.
Alex just gaped at the sight of her girlfriend.
Maggie smiled and pulled off her leather jacket, resting it on her suitcase. She closed the distance between them and pulled Alex into a close hug.
"Got your texts. Sorry, I was kind of on a plane," she murmured. "And, by the way, I missed you too."
Alex just melted into the other woman's arms. "But... your family..." she replied, holding Maggie tightly.
"They understood that I don't like to keep a lady waiting," she said. Maggie pulled back and reached up, cupping Alex's face in her hands, softly stroking her cheeks with her thumbs.
"Oh," Alex said, simply, gazing at the miraculous figure before her.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Happy New Year!" came Ryan Seacrest's voice from the television as Auld Lang Syne started to play.
Maggie turned to face the TV and then turned back to look at Alex. "Looks like I'm just in time. Happy new year, Alex."
"Happy new year, Maggie."
Maggie leaned forward and gently kissed Alex. They kissed softly for a moment or two. When they parted, Maggie pulled back, smiling. "So you were surprised?"
Alex laughed. "I'm still surprised!"
"Good," Maggie grinned, pulling her over to the couch, the two of them curling up together.
Alex just shook her head. "But really," she asked, "why did you come back?"
"Alex, come on," she said. "You know me well enough now. Do you really think I would have let this year begin without you in my arms?"
"Oh," she gasped, softly. "I guess I didn't think..."
Maggie nudged Alex with her elbow. "You didn't think you were worth it? Alex." She kissed her, lightly. "Nothing was going to stop me from kissing you at midnight. I mean, the airline did its best to delay me and getting a cab was insane... But I made it," she grinned.
"Best way to start a year, ever," Alex said, sighing contentedly.
